Ron Siegel’s Lobster Soup With Black Truffles And Sauteed Scallops For Two

So, as I mentioned in my lobster stock write up, I wanted to make Chef Ron Siegel’s lobster soup from his Iron Chef battle with Hiroyuki Sakai. The recipe for the soup was scaled for the Iron Chef judges, and so I had to halve the amount to make portions for just my wife and myself.

I began making the soup based on the recipe supplied from Iron Chef: The Official Book, p. 255 (scaled for 2 people).

3. When the stock was ready, I added the cream and let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes. The recipe indicated seasoning the mixture with salt and pepper but didn’t say how much.

Adding 1/2 pint (1 cup) heavy cream to lobster stock

Well, here I would use ~1/2 teaspoon of 4:1 salt/pepper mix. I returned that pot to the stove on 60% max heat, being mindful not to let the soup boil.

4. While the soup was simmering I seasoned the scallops with 4:1 salt/pepper mix and seared it in a pan (at about 4 minutes/side) with a bit of

2 scallops (~1/3 lb total) seasoned with 4:1 salt/pepper mix

grapeseed oil. Once that was done I diced the scallops (each into 8 pieces) and placed them into soup bowls and sprinkled the truffles over the scallops.

two seared scallops, just cooked through at 4 minutes/side

A portion of diced scallops and minced black truffles into the soup bowls

5. Pour the hot soup over the scallops/truffles and serve

Ron Siegel’s Lobster Soup With Scallops And Black Truffles

The hard work was already done in making the lobster stock (whew). The soup became part of Tuesday night dinner that also featured a salad of greens with French Laundry staff meal dressing

Soup And Salad

and roasted poussins on vegetables.

Roasted Poussins On Roasted Vegetables

On tasting this soup, both my wife and I loved the concentrated depth of flavor from the lobster stock. This is definitely a very rich dish. This offering from Chef Ron Siegel looks like a variant of the dish done by Chef Thomas Keller at the French Laundry (see The French Laundry Cookbook, p. 125). With its concentrated flavor and richness, I could see why this would be served in demitasse cups as an amuse guele/canape soup. Chef Siegel, Chef Keller – thank you for sharing the recipe for this soup! This would be something I’d make for a special occasion meal!